How Artificial Intelligence is Used Across Industries

In our last post, we took a look at how artificial intelligence is the digital edge. In this post, we’ll take a look at some examples of how AI is being used in different industries.

First, let’s define artificial intelligence (AI). It is automating processes that previously required human interaction. A high-end example is a driverless car. A simpler example is a chess-playing computer. AI is changing how we work and play and it is touching every aspect of our lives. AI is the intelligent digital edge. It’s where people and devices meet. It’s processing data on the spot rather than sending it to the cloud.

Banking/Finance
AI is becoming a game changer in the financial industry. Because AI learns through progressive, deep learning algorithms, it can be predictive. In the financial industry, that means AI can be used to prevent fraud rather than just detect it. AI can also be used to change the customer experience too. For example, Capital One became the first financial services company to enable customer account access through Alexa. Today, 20% of people do their banking digitally and most financial executives believe that AI will become the primary customer touchpoint by 2020.

Retail
In a survey of 2500 senior IT decision makers conducted by Opinion Research for Mitel, 95% say digital transformation is a key component in improving the customer experience. 56% say a better customer experience results in higher customer satisfaction.

Manufacturing/Industry
Machine learning, as a subset of AI, is already a fixture in factories and monitoring stations. But, AI has more critical uses in manufacturing and industry. By analysing IoT data, AI can forecast loads and demand, predict hardware failures and initiate recovery procedures so crews can be sent out for preventative maintenance. It’s estimated that by 2020, more than 50% of internet traffic could come from IoT sensors as the number of connected devices grows to 34 billion.

Security and Public Safety
AI is becoming a critical component in public safety. For security and surveillance cameras, AI can become the digital eyes, instead of human eyes, and analyse movement. This can help police spot crimes and monitor public spaces for accidents and disturbances.

In addition, facial recognition is a big part of security systems at borders, airports, etc. Computers can scan through thousands of images faster and more accurately than a human can. Facial recognition security is now also being used almost everywhere from smartphones and building access systems to credit cards and driver’s licenses.

Healthcare
Artificial intelligence is transforming every aspect of healthcare and 2018 is expected to be an explosive year for AI in healthcare. The possibilities are limitless. AI can act as a virtual assistant and help doctors diagnose patients, provide treatment plans, analyse lab tests, etc. It can also act as a life coach reminding people to take their pills, track medication consumption and provide pain management procedures. AI is becoming a critical component in healthcare from the OR and ER to remote patient visit systems.

Personalised AI
Artificial intelligence is personal too. You interact with it every time you ask Siri a question or tell Alexa to turn on the lights. Music recommendation systems, such as Spotify or Pandora, are based on artificial intelligence as well.

Smart buildings
Artificial intelligence is the basis for smart buildings. A great example of this is The Edge, possibly the smartest building in the world. It’s also officially the greenest office building in the world. The Edge is Deloitte’s headquarters in the Netherlands and a building that knows where you live, what car you drive, who you’re meeting with today, where to find a desk, your preferences for temperature and light, and more. The Edge is the most fully realised example of using intelligent edge technology and the IoT to change the way, how and where we work. For example, every light is powered by an Ethernet cable. The building is packed with 28,000 sensors. It’s a cool place where people want to work. Take a look at The Edge and see for yourself.

Begin your digital transformation
These are just a few examples of the rise of artificial intelligence. As the world of internet of things expands, many devices are being created to process data on their own. These intelligent IoT devices do more than simply collect and deliver data. Many process data on the spot rather than send it to the cloud for analysis. Intelligent IoT devices are beginning to effectively analyse diverse sets of data to produce value in real-time – and at the edge.

Learn how you can begin your digital transformation to the intelligent digital edge at BlackBox.co.uk